Adíos folks...

...Please join me at my consolidates website/ blog:
www.sproutandrhythm.com
Check out my funny stuff at:
www.karenbayardcomedy.com
And if you are so inclined please join my fanclubs on facebook:
search: Inspired Ice Cream
search: Laugh with Karen Bayard

Thanks for everything! PS the LOVEluck Book Club and Weekend Exposure Project are now at S&R as well! Hope to you'll make the leap!

Streamlining...join me

Hello friends....as many of you know I have been streamlining things. Amanda created Sprout and Rhythm as a site that could include blogging. I have been reluctant to put myself out there on my main site as much as I have here. I am now realizing that this was a way of hiding. So, I have made a few changes to my web/blog site and hope you'll join me for:

FOOD: recipes, cheap places to eat, cooking classes, great places to get ingredients locally, interviews with local farmers and store owners...
ICE CREAM: contests to win free ice cream, the 411 on where to get Inspired, new flavors...
LAUGHTER: laughter yoga classes, comedy shows, women's improv night, pictures & videos
MORE: concerts, LOVEluck Bok Club, WE, Inspirational quotes & download....

I've also added a link to become a follower (bottom left) on Sprout & Rhythm.

Thank you for playing with me here on Luck of a Lousy Cat!
Hope to see you make the leap!

Meow,
Karen

Weekend Exposure

Question: What cheers me up when I am feeling blue?
My response: ---->

To join this fun Weekend Exposure community visit Amanda's blog or FaceBook!

View the original of this picture on Google.

Just when I thought I was through

...this morning I was feeling scared. Rent and other bills are due this week and I feel like I have exhausted all options to come up with the $ to pay. As I set up for my yard sale, in hopes keeping the fires burning to run the company and "save myself" (from the fears I have about being evicted) I broke down. How did the dream come to this? What did I miss?

Leaning into the house, resting my forehead on the sage colored brick I sobbed and wondered what to do next. Be thankful is what came. I started saying thanks for what I have and for where I am and for my feelings. Soon a car pulled up....a friend....Giffi showed up with the brightest smile. She and her partner helped me finish getting things set up. She smiled again and said more are coming. Then two other friends Kat & Tammy showed up. More bright smiles. We laughed & they adjusted my pricing. A few people came and brought and/ or bought things.

Though the dollar goal was not met I feel happy. I was reminded that there are so many ways to feel abundant besides through monetary means. These 3 women are 3 of the women who first opened their hearts to me when I moved to Utah 8 years ago. I haven't seen them in almost as many years. What brought them TODAY? Perfect.

I wanted a song to express how I feel and LEAN ON ME came to mind. Bill Withers would have been fine...but Kirk Franklin popped up in the search. When I heard the song I cried.....my brother liked gospel and I heard this song last week when I made my last batch of ice cream. It fit then and fits today. I've posted the video on my facebook page: facebook.com/sproutandrhythm

I am wondering now how things will work out?

Weekend Exposure

Question: What is the greatest gift I can give?
My response: ---->

To join this fun Weekend Exposure community visit Amanda's blog or FaceBook!

View the original of this picture on Flickr.

Inspired Ice Cream: You've gotta BE nuts!

Good morning. Thank you for the dawn of a new day.
Yesterday I felt like I'd gotten my butt kicked. Though it wasn't the first time, it felt like the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. For a moment, out in the hot summer sun, wanting to sell ice cream but hardly making a sale, thinking about the cost of being at yet another market event that wasn't panning out and all the money/ time that's been spent, the bills that are due this week and my neglected family... I thought, I QUIT! Then I went for a walk, phoned my mom (I'm so thankful for her wisdom and sense of humor). Knowing I wasn't anywhere close to really quitting, I sat on a cool stone bench for a while in the shade and regrouped.

I've decided to take a few days off and relax, read, spend time with my family and follow my impulses. I am realizing today that I let myself get lost in how to LAUNCH a small business... BIG! In my life, I've rarely play by other people's rules....this, of course was a sore spot at times with my parents and sometimes made relationships difficult. I like to think I've softened in my personal relationships. Yet, I am still unclear about the delicate balance point wanting to happen in business between a) unavailable (read: pushy/ bitch) and b) ambitious, compassionate féminin d'affaires.

For now, I feel its best to rest and get back in touch with the healthy, visionary me of which I feel I've lost site. And then.....WOW.....Inspired Ice Cream...round 22...DING!

BTW, "You've gotta be nuts" is a slogan that just popped into my head this morning. (kb ponders this for a moment then goes back to restfully reading a great book)